48 hours later

The victory celebrations are nearly over and as I'm sure you may have all appreciated that the special police protection afforded to the intrepid (and much-loved) journalist Lou Bondi over the weekend has paid dividends.

None of the flesh-eating cannibals disguised as Labour supporters attacked or destroyed either Mr Bondi or, for that matter, the Where's Everybody? premises.

The baby-eating rituals reserved for Labourites were also postponed, and instead, the streets in Malta were full of beaming young people with big, happy and friendly smiles. 

I really don't know what happened.

My God, how they let us down.

We all know that Mr Lou Bondi must be wondering where all the troglodyte socialists have evaporated to. 

Pity he has not realised that the real troglodytes are to be found on his side of the border. They included, among others, Simon Busuttil, the man who waved his hands to say he had nothing to do with the PN's past made it a point to assure everyone that Labour would drive us 'gass down' into 'il-ħajt'.

In Maltese, we have a first-class description for Simon Busuttil: 'gazzu'. And by that, I mean someone not fit for politics.

Of course, all those who subscribed to the Queen of Bile's blog expected the streets to be overrun with blood... but they were not.

Indeed I have to say I am really missing the Queen of Bile's blog. She seems to have lost her inspiration (or a keypad) - what a pity.  I'm sure she'll be sorely missed.

Now, on Sunday and Monday I received a number of SMSes from people who were wondering where I was.  Others complimented us on our surveys.

Then others sent me a SMSes that simply said: 'Brussels sprouts' - assuming that I was taking up a job in Brussels.

Others thought that I was selling MaltaToday to the GWU!

I was of course in the office finishing off the final pages, staring at the screen and watching PBS and the appalling news reportage by Keith Demicoli and, on TVAM, by Pierre Portelli, the unbelievably biased State TV host who cannot quite come to terms with the national result.

The funniest comment of the last 48 hours was the suggestion, by Portelli, that those who criticised PBS were not elected. He was referring to Gino Cauchi.

One could inversely suggest that the party that was adulated by Pierre Portelli et al lost the election thanks to PBS. For there is little doubt in my mind that the editorial policy of Natalino Fenech and Where's Everybody fuelled widespread public resentment.

I also watched Muscat's swearing in on Monday. It was distinguished, and the only thing that really bothered me about it was the sight of developer Sandro Chetcuti, complete with a special tag, a few steps away from the Prime Minister and his wife Michelle as they posed in front of the press at Castille.

I fully agree that Sandro Chetcuti was bad-mouthed by Vince Farrugia and that Chetcuti had no intention of killing the man, but the fact remains that he thumped the GRTU chief, and that he still faces criminal proceedings.  Muscat's secretariat should keep this man at arm's length, at least publicly.

The guys at Castille need to learn that just because someone is persistent, it doesn't mean that they should embrace him and let him in.

But really and truly, everything else worked just fine.

Of course, questions arose about Muscat's appointments - but frankly, and can't see anything that's wrong with them.

It was of course understandable that Muscat chose those whom he could trust, especially someone who could and would control the civil service, renowned for building walls around problems and trenches around solutions.

Muscat needs to appoint the people who can take the decisions, and not ones who would return to plague him with problems.

And with such a majority, I can only say that Muscat has the liberty and the opportunity to choose his best team and the most forward-looking cabinet.

I hope he does.

It is perhaps one of the most difficult decisions, but it is much easier now than if he had to win a second term.

No one should expect to be given a ministry. 

The people I would think twice about awarding a ministry to do tend to be the most popular... even if they may not necessarily be the best people for the job.

Go for new faces, and of course make sure that the individuals are up for the job,  and competent.

And speaking of new faces, the Nationalist Party has managed to ensure that the possibility of a new, fresh leadership is severely hampered by the lack of grey matter in the group of elected parliamentarians. 

There are of course fewer brains in the PN, but the Nationalist Party should seriously consider grooming a leader who would be at the helm in 10 years' time.

Surely it shouldn't be George Pullicino. Nor Tonio Fenech, Robert Arrigo, Robert Cutajar, Anthony Bezzina, Mario Galea...

But with the news stories that will surface in the coming months revealing the crass nepotism and corruption that took place over the past few years, the PN will be definitely fighting windmills in the five years to come.

If they go for one of their ex-ministers they are guaranteed absolute failure.  They must seek someone who can visualise a political roadmap for the PN in a changing political landscape.

Someone who can be groomed, someone young who is not older than 40 (Muscat is 39 today) and someone with a modern outlook, who can take on a government with a majority of nine or seven seats.